


In this hushed and tranquil place, our souls become entwined

by Who Shot AR (akerwis)



Category: Lawless (2012)
Genre: Broccoli Test, Canon Het Relationship, F/M, Late Night Conversations, Marriage Proposal, POV Third Person, Post-Canon, Present Tense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-05
Updated: 2012-11-05
Packaged: 2017-11-18 01:38:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/555452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akerwis/pseuds/Who%20Shot%20AR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If they're both awake, Forrest figures he might as well ask.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In this hushed and tranquil place, our souls become entwined

It’s late one evening that Forrest feels Maggie stir against him, her slender hand patting at his chest.  Sometimes she wakes in the middle of the night and gets out of bed—where to, he doesn’t know, except that it’s for far longer than any sane man takes to use the outhouse.  Out to the porch, probably, to sit under the dark sky and think thoughts she’ll never share with anyone in the world.  He can picture her in her pinky-orange satin wrapper, shivering at the chill of springtime in the dead of night but too stubborn to come inside where the bed’s warm, looking out at the trees and thinking God knows what. 

He knows she’s awake with the same sense that tells him she’s not up to use the facilities, but she hasn’t moved from his side.  Maybe she knows he’s awake, too.  She’s curled in next to him like she’s been every night for a year and a half now; if anyone knows the difference between his breath when he’s sleeping and when he’s awake, it’s her.  Forrest reaches for the hand on his chest, closing his around it, and her hand closes back.  She knows that he knows that she knows that—well, they both know, anyway, lying there awake and silent in a sleeping house.

Now’s as good a time as any, he figures, since Maggie’s listening and no one else is.  So, rubbing her fingers with his own, he stares up at the ceiling and says in his low voice, “If I went to town and got a marriage certificate, would you sign it?”

He hadn’t noticed the feeling of her breath in her chest, slow and steady against his arm, until she fell still.  She’s holding her breath, her hand no longer rubbing back against his.  It occurs to him that he wouldn’t have asked if he hadn’t been sure what the answer would be—but now his certainty’s deserted him for the hills.  He didn’t expect the tears and _oh yes, yes, of course_ s like when Jack got down on one knee to Bertha, but she isn’t saying _anything_.  “Maggie?”

“I think you’re supposed to bring me along for that,” she says, which is the closest she’s going to get to saying _yes, Forrest, you do that and I’ll have a pen ready_. 

It’s enough for him.  He squeezes her close in a one-armed embrace, turning his head to bury it in her fiery hair.  When she gets up, she doesn’t let go of his hand; she tugs, her smile lit by the full moon outside their window for him alone, until he follows her out of the room.  They sit on the porch until rosy streaks of dawn start peeking through the pines, making silent plans together.

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from the song "Fire in the Blood." 
> 
> This was not strictly written for [tanyart](http://archiveofourown.org/users/tanyart) (it's also for [pitseleh](http://archiveofourown.org/users/pitseleh), after all), but it was written with the question of "What would Tanya like to read?" in mind.


End file.
